I love this record - fantastic from start to finish. I'm not sure if it's their absolute BEST, but with time it just may grow into my favourite. Really impressed with it (although I've been a longtime AF fan - one of the guys in the band is from here and I went to high school with his sister).

Yeah, the more i listen to this the better it gets. Hearing some of the new stuff live makes it even more impressive.

I've listened to it 4 or 5 times now and while it's alright I think it does pale in comparison with Neon Bible and Funeral.

I think my problem with it is that the way it's produced makes it have a much smaller sound and it was the expansiveness of the first two records that made me fall in love with the band.

Also I don't think bouncy/happy songs like the title track necessarily fit in well with the band's aesthetic.

It's a worthy effort but it does sound a bit complacent, Butler never sounds as passionate here as he did on tracks like Power Out and Windowsill.

Weird. I think the exact opposite of you on each point.

While I agree about Funeral, I do like it better than Neon Bible at this point. However, in all fairness, I haven't listened to Neon Bible nearly as much as Funeral.

I'm not sure we're listening to the same album??? Where's the happy in the title track? Although it is kinda bouncy.

Has an Arcade Fire song had more bounce than Power Out?

I'm really digging this record. I've listened to the whole thing about 9 or 10 times, and I think it's a really good album.

It's different than the previous two, but I believe that's a good thing.

I would say that Power Out is driving rather than bouncy.

It's a subtle distinction, but they are very different tracks to my ear, and I think it's the aggressiveness of tracks like Power Out that is lacking on this new album. I feel like they only really work up a full head of steam on a couple tracks like Ready to Start and Empty Room.

They hit #1 on Billboard - 156k sold

First #1 record in the States. Well deserved. I can't get enough of this album.

Wow 156K is number 1 in sales these days? I haven't followed the charts in a long time but that's like the population of my city.

Isn't it only CD sales though?

Though interest in the band continues to grow, sales of "The Suburbs" were helped no doubt by Amazon.com discounting the album to $3.99 for its entire first week of release. Comparatively, the album was selling for the typical $9.99 on Apple's iTunes store. Although SoundScan doesn't break down digital sales by retailer, a whopping 97,000 digital copies of "The Suburbs" were purchased, according to Billboard.


For some perspective, only 59,000 physical copies of "The Suburbs" were sold, less than the total first week sales of the band's "Neon Bible." Digital sales accounted for 62% of first-week purchases of "The Suburbs."

Man, I feel like such a Luddite still buying CDs, but I guess I'm hooked on the physical object.

I would never purchase a digital album if a physical copy was made. I've never purchased mp3s actually. CDs are so cheap these days (for the most part).

If a CD costs $10 and the digital album costs $10, I'll buy the CD. Even if the CD is a couple bucks higher, I'll usually buy the physical copy.

But if I can get an album for $5 or less (I bought Suburbs on amazon for $3.99), I'm buying the digital copy.

And if there's an album I'm not sure I really want to buy, $10 will make me pass. $5 will make me buy it. I've bought a bunch of digital copies of albums in the last year or so that I never would have bought if it was $10.


Hear that record companies? Price an album at $5 and you'll get my money. Price an album at $10+ and more often than not, you get NOTHING from me.

I refuse to buy lossy audio in any capacity. Until FLACs are readily available for download, I still buy CDs. Then I rip 'em to and they never see sunlight again.

People like you are perfect for collectors like me. If the day comes that you decide to sell those 'space killers' I will be assured of receiving 'mint' product.

I'm probably not what you're looking for in terms of being a "collector." I toss the cases, tag the discs in a spreadsheet, and shove 'em into binders. The exception being box sets, but those are few and far in between.

Wow, you buy the physical product and immediately toss the packaging? Interesting.

I'm not an obsessive collector/keep mint/must have all packaging/does it come with an insert type. The only that interests me is the music and the music only. Liner notes? Read once, maybe, then toss. The case and cover is already designated garbage. If I really need to read more about the band/album, or appreciate the cover art, I already have too many avenues to do that online.

I want the uncompressed audio more than anything else. In fact, that's ALL I want. And the day I can legally get FLACs online, I'll stop buying CDs.

Incidentally, I do the same thing with DVDs and Blu-Rays as well.

Back to the album: loving it more and more with each listen. It has surpassed NEON BIBLE but not quite at FUNERAL levels.

Saw 'em last night in Atlanta. The older songs work better live IMO. I enjoyed seeing Spoon open every bit as much as Arcade Fire.

I know, music sales really have crashed...

BTW, 6,100 of those 59,000 physical copies were on vinyl. I wonder when the last time more than 10% of an album's physical media sales were LPs.

We CD buyers are a dying breed.

New North American concerts announced!
http://www.arcadefire.net/shows
Wed 9/22/2010 – St. Paul, MN – Roy Wilkins Arena
Thu 9/23/2010 – Winnipeg, MB – MTS Centre
Sat 9/25/2010 – Saskatoon, SK – Credit Union Centre
Sun 9/26/2010 – Calgary, AB – Stampede Corral
Tue 9/28/2010 – Vancouver, BC – Pacific Coliseum
Wed 9/29/2010 – Seattle, WA – Key Arena
Thu 9/30/2010 – Portland, OR – Memorial Coliseum
Sat 10/2/2010 – Berkeley, CA – Greek Theatre
Tue 10/5/2010 – Big Sur, CA – Henry Miller Library
Thu 10/7/2010 – Los Angeles, CA – Shrine Auditorium
Fri 10/8/2010 – Los Angeles, CA – Shrine Auditorium
Sun 10/10/2010 – Mexico City (MX) – Palacio de los Deportes
Tue 10/12/2010 – Monterrey (MX) – Banamex Theater

count me in!

This album is absolutely growing on me. I prefer it to Neon Bible and it is close to surpassing Funeral as my favorite from AF, close.....